Jesus is true humanity

What does it mean to be human? There is but one complete and final answer, and it is found in the humanity Jesus.

Trinitarian theologian Karl Barth put it this way: "As the man Jesus is himself the revealing Word of God, he is the source of our knowledge of the nature of man as created by God."

In Jesus, who is fully divine yet fully human, we find our true human identity and nature. Barth put it succinctly: "All study and knowledge of human beings is grounded in the fact that one man among all others is the man Jesus."

Jesus is the only human who faithfully and perfectly represents what God, the Creator, wishes for the human person, created in his image, to be. And, by grace, through his Spirit poured out on all flesh, Jesus is sharing with us his true humanity, re-creating us in his image as he does so.

And so it is vital that we understand and embrace the humanity of Jesus. This is not a humanity that Jesus once  possessed, then shed. His humanity continues, for the incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Jesus is permanent - enduring forever as the source of all true humanity.

To read more about the true humanity that is revealed in Jesus, I recommend reading Jesus and the Goodness of Everything Human, a Christianity Today article posted at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/january/humanprototype.html.